This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

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Vic
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This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

#1 Post by Vic »

By Hamish Campbell
The Edinburgh News
06-01-2028

The Big Picture
A short week for the big league clubs as their front offices prepare for the amateur draft this weekend, so it’ll be a shorter-than-usual TWITA.

Division teams squared off with each other this week, with somewhat predictable results: Havana beat up on London, taking its series 3-1, while Scotland and San Juan split their four-game set.

The result: everyone stayed where they were, except the Leones padded their lead a bit.

Surprised? Didn’t think so …

Havana Happenings
This is starting to look like a trend: Claudio Hernández won the Imperial League Rookie of the Month award for May, which he also won for April. The Panamanian Panic (will this catch on? Almost certainly not …) had a .265/.400/.449 slashline in May with this oddity: he hit no doubles, no triples … and 6 home runs. "Gap power? I don’t need no stinkin’ gap power." He did slow down a little from April, when he slashed .308/.432/.637 with 6 doubles and 8 homers. Still, it’s hard to complain too much … Game of the Week: The 4-1 victory over London on May 30 was a convincing bounce-back after the Leones dropped the series opener 2-1. Havana jumped on Underground starter Félix Reyes in the first inning, with a two-run homer by RF Claudio Hernández and a solo shot by 1B Ira Murdoch. CF Maxime Plamondon added a home run in the 6th to close the Havana scoring, but the Leones didn’t need it. Starter Jonathan Sherwin allowed just 1 run in 7 innings pitched, and the bullpen locked things down in the 8th and 9th.

Coqui Cables
Was it something they said? Even though the Coqui have made giant strides over last season’s 102-loss team (better than .500 after two months), San Juan’s attendance has hit the skids. After beginning the season with crowds in excess of 50,000 per game, they are drawing at less than half that clip now. The final game of the series against Scotland – who they’re tied with for second in the division – drew only 23,739 fans, and that was the best crowd of the week. Hard to understand given the exciting brand of baseball San Juan plays … Game of the Week: The May 31st 5-2 victory over the Claymores featured a strong outing from rookie Fernando Castro (who electrified fans with a no-hitter in his first-ever big-league start), and a three-hit performance from 2B Shigekazu Shimizu. It was most notable, though, because Scottish pitcher Jorge Vázquez made the start on just one day of rest and, predictably, went down to injury. “I don’t want to judge another team,” said Coqui Manager Sergio Manetti, “but that was just nuts. I feel bad for Vázquez. Not bad enough to give the win back, though …”

Scottish Scoops
More will be written about this, certainly, but suffice it to say that Scotland’s brass is furious with pitching coach George Mooney, who ran the team for the last couple of days of the San Juan series. Manager Hayato Sasaki had flown home to Japan to visit his ailing mother, and asked Mooney to take care of things in his absence. Well, he sure did. Mooney let Vázquez talk him into pitching on short rest – over the horrified objections of teammates, trainers and other staff – and wound up with a seriously injured pitcher. The injury to Vázquez ‘s forearm has likely ended the 24-year-old’s season, which was off to a promising (6-4, 3.00 ERA) start. Reached in Akashi, Hyogo, Sasaki was audibly distraught by news of the injury. “I mourn for Jorge and what could have been a magnificent season for him, but I am profoundly disappointed in George Mooney. A veteran such as he should know better, and we will have serious, searching discussions upon my return.” For more on this quickly evolving situation, check out the Edinburgh News later this week.

Underground Utterings
If you were wondering whether London had made enough progress in May to take on division-leading Havana and win … well, no. No it hasn’t. And it slipped to four games behind San Juan and Scotland, too, as it dropped three of four while its closest division rivals split their series. So, bad month, right? Well, not really – there was progress. The Underground lost six more than they won in April. In May? They lost only one more than they won. Playing. 500 ball in June seems an eminently realistic goal for London … Game of the Week: We’ll go with the May 29 series opener against the Leones, won in 12 innings before 45,394 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium. After trading runs in the first and second innings, the teams cruised into the 12th tied at 1-1. Havana brought middle reliever Carlos Ruíz in to start the 12th, and he ran into trouble almost immediately. He walked 2B César Torres to lead off, and London bunted him into scoring position. SS Tony Cuevas beat out a hit to the right side of the infield, putting runners at first and third for 1B Bruce McGuire. He worked the count full, then drew a walk from Ruíz to fill the bases. LF Kelvin McDonald then scorched a grounder back up the middle that Ruíz couldn’t stab, and Torres trotted home with the winning run. Thrilling stuff that the Underground hope to replicate over the weekend as Kentucky comes to town.
Vic Caleca
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

#2 Post by Leones »

Another fun and informative dispatch from Hamish! ;-D
Patrick Hildreth
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

#3 Post by Fishermen »

Pleased to see Tony Cuevas who I drafted back in 2020 still going but somewhat surprised that after six full years in the PEBA he's only earning $945k
Andy (Sim, Chaan-Shu)
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

#4 Post by Vic »

Tony’s a bargain at that price!

And, yes, Hamish’s work output is impressive, especially since he cranks them out between stays in the detox unit ...
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week Nine 2028

#5 Post by MikeB »

I think it will take a bit longer to convince fans San Juan vs. Scottish is a worthwhile series. As for Manetti's quote. Reading between the lines, he was really saying, "And people complained that I kept my job?"
Mike Best
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